A: They say too much of anything is bad. In this case, too much beneficial bacteria isn’t necessarily bad – but your pocketbook might be getting a little lighter.

The Cycle of Life

Beneficial bacteria, those debris-gobbling microorganisms found in our Nature’s Defense®, Muck Defense® and Seasonal Defense®, lives just like other living things. They’re born (well, most bacteria come into the world via a kind of cellular division called binary fission), they eat food that’s available to them (organic debris in your pond), they divide to perpetuate the population, and they die when their life cycle is complete.

Survival of the Fittest

When too many bacteria live in your water feature, they battle and compete for resources rather than growing big and healthy and reproducing. A la Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, the weaker organisms ultimately starve and die. The overall bacteria populations drop, and the pond owner then needs to buy more to replace what he or she has lost to keep up on managing the nutrient load. Those repopulation costs could certainly add up over a while!

Too Much of a Good Thing

Having too much beneficial bacteria in your pond is safe for plants and fish in most cases. But if your pond has a lot of organic buildup, a lot of beneficial bacteria and inadequate aeration, could be a recipe for disaster for your fish. As those bacteria launch their full-scale attack against all that detritus, they deplete the water of oxygen – which the fish needs to survive. An aeration system, like the PondAir™ or KoiAir™Aeration Systems, can help in cases like that by supplying the oxygen and circulating the water column.

The Right Dose

Our advice: For routine maintenance, dose your pond according to the instructions on Nature’s Defense®, Muck Defense® and Seasonal Defense® labels. After clean-outs or treatments, you can use a double dose of bacteria to kick-start the repopulation process, but no more than that. And, if you don’t have one installed already, consider adding aeration to your pond. All your pond’s inhabitants – from microorganism to macro organisms – will appreciate it!

Pond Talk: Have you ever added too much beneficial bacteria to your pond? If so, what were the repercussions?

4 Responses

Would like to post a question: I have a koi pond, with a bio filter and water fall; the water from the pond goes through a bottom filter as well as a skimmer into the water fall. My question is: water level behind the mat ( towards the pump side) is about half of the level at the skimmer intake ( from the pond). I have been rinsing the mat and the net frequently in tap water with chlorine and Chloramine; but am concerned that I am killing the beneficial bacteria in the mat. Have been adding bacteria after each rinse. Would appreciate guidance on this.

Hi Ruki – As long as you have a separate biofilter you can rinse the media in the skimmer filter with the pump as often as needed. The skimmer mat’s main purpose is to keep debris from the pump so you can leave the rest up to your biofilter.

Hi Kevin – Bacteria will stay within the pond and filter media so you should not need to turn the UV off however I would not apply the bacteria directly in front of the intake of your pump. Here is an article from a past blog regarding this subject.